If you do not feel like reading the entire article, including
the introduction, please jump to the Solution.

Yesterday, Google launched a new version of their website, which now sports a vertical sidebar on the left side
of the main area, allowing you to filter your searches in all kinds of ways. It looks something like this:

Judging by the rapidly growing number of results found for "remove google sidebar" - it seems that the change
has not been accepted well with users, which is kind of expected. Many find the change too drastic for their
taste, including reduced functionality, distraction and whatnot. In general, people are resistant to change and
the new Google looks come as a shock. Worse yet, there is no built-in option to disable it.

As of this morning, more than three million pages found. Basically, it comes down to one thing, how you can
remove this sidebar? Disabling cookies works, but this hampers functionality. Disabling javascript is not
effective. There are tons of answers, few really effective or simple.

Therefore, I've decided to write this guide and help you restore Google to its former, classic looks in a quick
and simple fashion. Taste and politics aside, let's focus on the functionality. This article shows you several
methods of how you can restore the looks of the Google search pages back to their old format.

Follow me.

Solution

There are several ways you can solve this issue. Some will only work for certain browsers, like Firefox or
Google Chrome, some are applicable for all browsers on all platforms. Some are more complicated, some are
trivial. Please choose what you find the best and most effective for you.

Firefox + Greasemonkey extension + Remove sidebar script

This solution is available for Firefox users.

The first you need to do is download and install the Greasemonkey Firefox extension. This browser addon
lets you use custom pieces of Javascript to change the behavior and look of websites.

You will need to create a new script. Give it a meaningful title and description. The namespace field should
point to the URL where you got the script, most likely the online Greasemonkey repository.

The Includes and Excludes fields let you specify which sites or domains you want to enable or disable the
script. In our case, we want to enable the script on Google search pages, so your best bet is to use
google.com/* wildcard.

After you click OK, the extension will ask you to choose your default text editor and then display the script
in it. So far, it only has the header and you need to add the actual bit of code that does the work.

Install Remove Google Sidebar script

You can find a very short, clean simple script on userscripts.org. Many thanks go to Vin for putting up this
script. It was indeed last updated a day ago, approx. the same time Google launched the change.

Copy & paste the code below //==/UserScript== section.

This is how it looks:

Once this is done, go to Google and watch the script in action.

With Greasemonkey disabled:

With Greasemonkey script enabled:

Watch the right bottom corner, where the Greasemonkey icon is located. You can click on it to toggle the
Greasemonkey status, so if you fancy the sidebar, it's one click away. You can also right-click on the icon for
more options.

Google Chrome + Hide Google Options extension

Then, you will see a small toggle button to the right of the address bar, which lets you enable/disable the
sidebar. Very simple, quick and neat.

All browsers + special Google Search pages

You can use the special, super-geeky pages instead of the standard Google search domains. Rather than using
google.com or google.ca or any of those, you can use the Bork, Klingon or Elmer Fudd versions of the search
engine. So far, they have not been ported to the new version with the sidebar:

You may find the options and buttons sporting funny spelling, but it works just like the normal Google.

Other solutions for other browsers

Personally, I'm not aware of any solutions for Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari. I do not use these browsers,
hence I do not know if there are any simple and elegant tricks available. If you know some, feel free to email
me and I'll add them.

Update, May 8: I have received a number of suggestions that should work for
Internet Explorer and Opera, as well as other browsers. Please see just below.

Other solutions - readers' suggestions

Important note: These tips are recommended by various readers and forum fellow
members. While I have not personally tested them and cannot gurantee their absolute accuracy, I believe they
should work well. However, you will have to test and decide. Most importantly, be careful when installing new
software or scripts!

Many thanks to Night Raven, Pinga, Rmus, and norman.

Opera

Opera supports Greasemonkey scripts. The first thing you need to do is specify a folder that contains the user
scripts. Go to Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Content > JavaScript Options > Choose, navigate
to the folder.

Next, download this script by right-clicking on Install
> Save Linked Content As and save the file in the folder you chose earlier. Restart Opera.

An alternative is to use a custom Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). Copy & paste the following snippet of CSS
code into a text editor (e.g. Notepad, Wordpad, etc):

Save the file with a .css extension to a folder; Opera root folder might be a good choice.

Load the Google site (any one of your used search domains), right-click anywhere on empty space on the page and
choose Edit Site Preferences > Display, then choose the CSS file you've just created.

After reloading the page, the sidebar should be gone.

Note: This solution is domain-specific, so you should create a separate CSS file
for each relevant search domain. Not exactly the most convenient or flexible solution, but again, it allows you
to customize the looks of new Google search pages.

You can also use the All version or Advanced Search option in Google, which lets you collapse
the sidebar if you do not want to show it. This means you need not use the special Bork or Klingon versions and
can stick to plain English.

Conclusion

And that's it! You have a simple way of restoring Google Search to the old way. The solutions are quick and
easy to implement, without any great hacking knowledge. As we see here, Firefox and Google Chrome clearly have
an enormous customization advantage, so you should probably be using these anyway.

I hope you've enjoyed this short guide. Whether you agree or disagree with Google's changes is irrelevant. This
is not about agreeing or disagreeing, but simple and pure functionality. Personally. I find the change slightly
radical. It could have been implemented in a much better, smoother way. For example, use a different color for
the sidebar to make it easier for the eyes, relocate it to the right side or allow users to enable/disable it
in the search preferences, just like other options are available.

Well, that would be all. If you have friends in distress, spread the word.